Love & Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain (Paperback)

~ (Author), Ian Halperin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book is valuably different in tone to everything else you'll read on the subject....Right though it is to celebrate this man's talent and his life, it's undoubtedly just as valuable to learn a lesson from the tragic confusion around his death."

-- The Guardian (London)

Product Description

A chilling, groundbreaking investigation into the death of one of the great rock icons of our times -- including exclusive access to the case tapes of Courtney Love's former P.I., and a host of compelling new evidence.

On Friday, April 8, 1994, a body was discovered in a room above a garage in Seattle. For the attending authorities, it was an open-and-shut case of suicide. What no one knew then, however, is that the deceased -- Kurt Cobain, the superstar frontman of Nirvana -- had been murdered. Drawing on case tapes made by a P.I. hired by Courtney Love when her husband escaped from drug rehab and went missing -- and on new forensic evidence and police reports obtained under the Freedom of Information Act -- Love & Death explodes the long-standing theory that Kurt Cobain took his own life.

Award-winning investigative journalists Max Wallace and Ian Halperin have conducted a ten-year crusade for the truth, and in Love & Death they present a stunning, convincing argument that the whole truth has yet to be revealed.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Atria (March 29, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743484843
• ISBN-13: 978-0743484848
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (75 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #174,241 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Other Side of the Story, May 13, 2004

By	Velouria (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love & Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain (Hardcover)

I loved Charles Cross's "Heavier than Heaven" but was always a little disappointed at the overly-flattering portrayal of Courtney Love in the book. This book is an important follow-up to the large collection of writings and film about Kurt and Courtney. I was a major skeptic about the murder theory, but I must admit this book has at least prompted me to think about the possibilities - and to become even more convinced that Love is a sociopath much like Nancy Spungen before her. Spungen's biography, written by her annoyingly self-righteous mother, was an eye-opener about anger, hate and mental illness hiding behind a contrived persona. In Nancy's case, punk rock provided an outlet for her hatred, and I think the same thing happened with Courtney. Some psychopaths enjoy great success by posing as the guy-next-door, copying the lifestyle they see around them. Courtney emulated her surroundings, the alternative music scene, in much the same way. Did it allow her to get away with murder? To accept the murder theory means to shift my opinion of Love from a pathetic wannabe to a brilliant manipulator. I am not sure I'm ready to do this...yet.

39 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent read! Shocking and thought-provoking., April 5, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Love & Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain (Hardcover)

This well-researched and well-written book puts forward a very plausible scenario whereby Courtney Love hired a killer to murder Kurt Cobain and make it look like suicide. The evidence is plentiful and the motive is substantial. Kurt had begun the process of removing Courtney from his will and they were heading for divorce. Had he been able to follow-through, she would have been entitled to none of his millions. As a result of his 'suicide' she received everything. No fingerprints at the scene, a man with a triple-lethal dose of heroin in his body rolling down his sleeves, tidily putting away his paraphenalia and then shooting himself in the mouth is simply not a plausible scenario. Far more likely is that someone injected him (whoever brought him the stuff), killed him and then made it look like suicide. Read this book and the truth will be self-evident. Hopefully enough to reopen the case. The authors are investigative journalists, not Nirvana fan- fanatics. A very credible book that will surely cause great controversy. Buy it and read it - you won't be disappointed. This is serious journalism and a reminder that people do often get away with murder...

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kurt Cobain did not commit suicide, and this book proves it., April 29, 2004

By	J.C. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love & Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain (Hardcover)

I know that at first it sounds like a typically wacky conspiracy theory; I refused to even listen to those who suggested that K.C. was murdered until very recently, when I read "Who Killed Kurt Cobain?" and then this book. Perhaps what is most important about this book is that it establishes that everything everyone thinks they know about K.C.'s supposed suicidal tendencies comes straight from Courtney Love. She's the one who says he tried to kill himself in Rome; she's the one who called the police and said that he was threatening to shoot himself, which Cobain denied. Once you realize that Courtney is constitutionally incapable of telling the truth, this case begins to look very, very different.

The evidence in favor of Cobain's death being a homicide and not a suicide is overwhelming. It starts with two primary facts about his death: (a) the "suicide note" doesn't much resemble a suicide note at all; mostly it talks about his leaving the music business, and only the last four lines -- which seem to be written in different handwriting than the rest of the note -- indicate an intention to kill himself; (b) there was WAY too much heroin in his system at the time of death for him to have rolled down his sleeve, put away the drug paraphernalia, pick up the shotgun and shoot himself. These are only the two most immediately striking reasons for a homicide verdict; there are many, many more details that show that K.C. did not kill himself.

Tom Grant's website, www.cobaincase.com, is a good intro to this case, but if you want the argument for homicide laid out in detail, buy "Love and Death". It will completely change the way you see Cobain, Love, and the music of Nirvana as well. I know it is hard to believe at first, but K.C. DID NOT KILL HIMSELF. The book makes this fact clear as day.